1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for assisting surgical operations inside a vessel, particularly for the minimally invasive explantation and implantation of cardiac valves for ablation of an artic valve on the human heart by a minimally invasive surgical operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The malfunctioning of an aortic valve results in cardiac insufficiency and hence in a situation that is potentially fatal for the patient. For repair of such a defect, artificial aortic valves have been developed which are implanted as a substitute for the damaged valve in complex and risky open-heart surgery (sternotomy). The operation becomes particularly difficult when there is strong calcareous degeneration on the natural valve because painstaking attention must be paid during removal in order to ensure that calcification particles will not enter the blood circulation and cause there thromboses at other sites in the body. It is common to fasten the replacement valves which are either mere engineering products or derived from porcine valves by suturing in the place of the removed valve.
There are numerous approaches in the development of methods simplifying this complex procedure of aortic-valve replacement in terms of both the surgical technique and the discomfort and strain for the patient, aiming at a minimally invasive technique of replacement of the aortic valve. In these approaches, the operation is performed via the femoral artery or even through the groin.
In view of the very restricted possibilities of access in the aortic arch, it is inevitable to adopt complex surgical strategies, firstly for explantation of the calcified artic valve and secondly for the implantation of an artificial valve in situ. Apart from all difficulties involved in the surgical operation even though minimally invasive surgery is concerned that operates on advanced catheter technology the surgeon is required to apply a maximum of concentration and above all a steady hand, specifically because the individual steps of surgical handling are within the millimetre range and therebelow. With the minimally invasive operation being performed with a sustained natural function of the heart, it is moreover important to carry out the operation as quickly as possible in order to keep the strain on the cardiac system at a minimum, which means that an operation of this kind is performed under a certain pressure in terms of time.
The present invention provides an aid that can substantially facilitate the performance of the minimally invasive operation, by a surgeon performing surgical operations inside a vessel, particularly in the performance of a minimally invasive explantation and implantation of cardiac valves. Namely, a surgical operation carried out within an operating zone that encompasses only a few millimetres of operating site and hence demands a maximum of concentration on the surgeon""s part. In particular, the invention substantially facilitates the operation of advanced surgical tools such as catheter tools or the like within the operating site and thus reduces the duration of the surgical operation, which at the same time provides at a substantial reduction of the strain on the patient.
In accordance with the present invention the device for assisting surgical operations inside a vessel, particularly for the minimally invasive explantation and implantation of cardiac valves comprises an operating structure for implantaton inside the vessel and to be joined tightly and detachably on the inner wall of the vessel, The operating structure moreover comprises at least one connector and/or support structure for a further instrument required for the surgical operation.
The invention initially establishes an operating structure at the operating site, which is fixedly anchored in the surrounding tissue wall and presents, due to its geometry, a reference structure for the topographic reference in all subsequent manipulations. This reference structure may have the shape of an unfoldable cylinder, for example, which is provided with a bayonet catch. This fixedly installed structure now permits the defined positioning of subsequently introduced tools by fixed coupling. These instruments may be cutting, coagulating or observation instruments. After the actual application, the used instrument may be uncoupled from the bayonet catch of the operating structure for removal whereupon the operating structure is ready for receiving a further instrument. This instrument has again a known relationship to the previously used instrument or tool.
In the case of replacement of the aortic valve it is possible in this manner to locate, measure and ablate initially the defective and/or calcareous valvexe2x80x94possibly in several successive steps and with different tools. The new valve is then equally introduced in a minimally invasive operation and fixed in the desired position, with employment of the operating structure. In the case of malfunctioning or of excessive wear, this valve could be replaced by a third valve in a comparatively simple manner, again with use of the bayonet catch and with application of suitable catheter tools. This system could be used to treat a patient at regular intervals with a valve corresponding to the latest state of the art.
As the operating structure is equally introduced into the vessel in a minimally invasive operation, it is preferably designed to be foldable so as to allow for transportation through a narrow vesicular duct, for example, a narrow artery.
In an expedient embodiment, the operating structure, too, may be conveyed to the aorta in several parts and composed there.
An embodiment of the operating structure is a resilient, preferably highly elastic sheet that is folded for transport and conveyed to the implantation site inside a sleeve. There, the sheet is ejected from the sleeve by means of a ram and then unfolds automatically due to the elastic forces. Recesses or knops are provided on the sheet, which constitute a bayonet-like catch so that subsequently introduced structures such as catheter tools can be fixed on the operating structure in a simple manner and can be detached and retracted again in an equally simple manner,
The sheet, which has preferably a rectangular shape, presents a respective lock seam on the edges extending in parallel with the cylinder axis so that the opposing lock seams will automatically mutually engage and hence constitute a defined cylinder.
On the outside surface of the cylinder, moreover spikes are mounted which are so designed that they compensate the irregular lumen of the aorta and may be hooked in the tissue wall of the vessel. As the spikes do not project orthogonally from the cylinder wall but extend at an angle in a rearward direction the operating structure can only be shifted in the forward direction and is engaged in the tissue wall only is pushed back or when the blood stream passes corresponding forces onto the spikes.
With such an arrangement an individual adaptation to the biologic conditions of the aorta, on the one hand, and a precise reference area for the engineering components, on the other hand, are achieved at the same time. To this adds that despite the introduced processing equipment the spacers of the spikes ensure a certain fluidic passage through the aorta, which means that the spikes space the cylinder from the aorta wall so that a blood stream will be ensured between the aorta and the cylinder.
For the permanent implantation of an artificial cardiac valve the structure serves to fix and receive the flow forces while the sealing of the valve against the vesicular wall may be implemented independently and separately of the holding forces.